Buildings
Work Resumes in Berlin on Holocaust Memorial
(enr.construction.com - 11/24/03)
By Nadine
M. Post
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ABSTRACT
FIELDShafts will evoke loneliness. (Photo courtesy
of the Foundation Memorial To
The Murdered Jews of Europe) |
Work recently resumed
on Germany’s $32.5-million Memorial to the Murdered Jews
of Europe, after a supplier was suspended over its World War
II role in the holocaust. More than 30 of the planned 2,751
abstract, concrete monoliths have been placed in Berlin since
field installation began in late September.
The project was interrupted on
Oct. 23 when Degussa A.G., Düsseldorf, was told to halt
supplies to a subcontractor of an anti-graffiti coating material,
says Günter Schlusche, a spokesman for the government-funded
foundation responsible for the memorial. Degussa had been
involved in wartime production of poison Zylon-b gas, used
by the Nazis in extermination camps, says Schlusche.
Meanwhile, the main contractor,
Firma Geithner Bau A.G., Wilhelmshaven, continued casting
the dark grey monoliths, which range in height from 0.4 to
5.5 m. Concrete coating started again after the foundation’s
trustees agreed on Nov. 13 to tolerate Degussa’s involvement.
The decision was "a symbol of acceptance of historical
responsibility on the part of society today," explains
the foundation in a statement.
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| (Photo
courtesy Eisenman Architects) |
"We can continue to play a
role in the construction of the memorial and thus make a contribution
in terms of remembrance," says Degussa Chairman Utz-Hellmuth
Felcht. The firm is Germany’s third-largest chemical
maker, with sales exceeding $12 billion. It employs 48,000
people.
Designed by New York City-based
architect Peter Eisenman, the memorial will cover 1.9 hectares
of land that has lain vacant since the war, next to the line
of the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate. The different-size
precast monoliths are abstract and, in the lower-than-grade
field, intended to evoke a feeling of being lost or alone.
Including an underground visitor center, the project, managed
by the Berlin senate, is on course for completion in 2005,
says Schlusche.
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